The DVLA has been told to pull more than 18,000 cars off UK roads over concerns that thousands of models are not registered to owners.
Thousands of cars are not registered to owners (Image: Getty)
A Labour MP has called on the DVLA to “act urgently” after suggesting cars without registered owners could be unsafe on the road. DVLA data obtained by the British Parking Association through a Freedom of Information request found that there are a whopping 18,260 vehicles registered to the DVLA’s address in Wales – so it is not known where the owner actually lives.
It is believed that road users are buying cloned or fake number plates, allowing owners to break driving rules and rack up penalties. Labour MP Sarah Coombes explained the issue was becoming an “epidemic” as she demanded action.
Fake registrations mean drivers can break rules and avoid fines (Image: Getty)
Sarah said: “We are also seeing an epidemic of ‘ghost owners’, where a vehicle has no registered keeper, which means speeding, hit and runs and worse are going completely unpunished as the driver cannot be found.
The British Parking Association has argued that the real problem could be much greater than the numbers seem to suggest.
The group warned that parking firms had found that between 10% and 20% of requests made to the DVLA for vehicle ownership details returned no results. This could suggest vehicles were registered without an address or were using cloned plates.
Speaking to The Guardian, Sarah added: “We are all paying the price for these untraceable drivers through higher car insurance premiums. This failing roads regulation is undermining trust and safety and the DVLA must act urgently to sort this out.”
In Parliament, Sarah later stressed that some cars were” registered to Mickey Mouse, or to big organisations’ addresses”.
She added: “There are simply no checks whatsoever on whom people register vehicles to, which means they are doing really dangerous and really antisocial things, and getting away with it.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson told The Guardian: “Our road safety strategy takes direct action to crack down on illegal plates that help criminals evade detection.
“This includes proposals for tougher penalties for driving with illegal plates, reviewing the standards for number plates and stricter checks during MOT testing.”.